Description: I’m selling the complete miniature re-creation of Ando Hiroshige's (1797-1858) most famous work, the Hoeido published "The Fifty-Three Stages of the Tokaido" (東海道五十三次 Tōkaidō Gojūsan-tsugi), originally released in circa 1833-1834. Hiroshige's famous Great Tokaido designs offer an opportunity to be transported back in time to see Japan as it was during the days of the Tokugawa Shogunate. This famous Hoeido version is recreated here in miniature by the Takamizawa Ukiyo-e Company in the 1960s using traditional multi-plate woodblock printing techniques. This requires creating a woodblock for each color in each print, (hundreds altogether). Takamizawa is well respected in the woodblock print community and is considered to be one of the best producers of fine Ukiyo-e and shin-hanga restrike prints, due to their particularly fine craftsmanship and attention to carving and printing detail. This traditional accordion-style album of prints is a superb example of their work (in Japan, the accordion-folded book structure is called an orihon). Subtle use of color is essential in Hiroshige's designs, often printed with multiple impressions in the same area and with extensive use of bokashi (color gradation), both of which are labor-intensive techniques. The designs are beautifully printed in this miniature set, with exceptional detail and shading. This is high quality art; each print is suitable for framing in my opinion. The booklet is constructed from one continuous double-sided sheet that has been affixed between two red brocade wrapped and decorative endpapers. Each woodblock print is traditionally produced, handmade from a set of multiple woodblocks, one for each color. Each is attached to a page that includes a description in the original Japanese and English, along with a number for its order in the series The contents of this beautiful album include: • 55 woodblock prints of all 53 Tokaido road stations plus the starting point, Nihonbashi, and the ending point, Kyoto • Descriptions of each station in both Japanese and English • Table of contents in both Japanese and English • Red brocade cloth-covered album in traditional accordion style • Blue buckram cloth-covered tatou folder with ribbon ties to protect the set The individual prints are 5.5 x 3.5 inches. The book cover and pages are 7.5 x 5 inches. Entire dimensions with protective cover is 8 x 5.25 x 1.25 inches. Condition - The protective exterior box/folder has damage but has truly succeeded protecting its contents. As a result, the book and its prints, remain pristine like new. Please see photos for details. The ''Emperor's Road'' is the Tokaido. It was down this road in 1832 that a detachment of the Edo fire-brigade traveled with a gift from a shogun to the emperor. One of the minor officials on the trip was Ando Hiroshige. This journey was an eye opening and life changing experience for him. As an urban man of Edo he had only experienced life mainly in the capital. He returned to Edo after the trip and began his masterwork woodblock series from the sketches he had made on his journey. It was very well received. Hiroshige is often considered the last great master of the ukiyo-e tradition. Hiroshige's eventual death marked the beginning of a rapid decline in the ukiyo-e genre, especially in the face of the westernization that followed the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Hiroshige's work came to have a marked influence on Western painting towards the close of the 19th century as a part of the trend in Japonism. Western artists closely studied Hiroshige's compositions, and some, such as van Gogh, painted copies of Hiroshige's prints. This is an opportunity to own handmade prints representing a high point of human artistic technique based on an original master source.
Price: 195 USD
Location: Mercer Island, Washington
End Time: 2024-11-09T22:37:52.000Z
Shipping Cost: 5.38 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Primary Material: Paper
Special Attributes: Miniature
Color: Multi-Color
